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The Story Behind the Petrino Suspension

Earlier this week, Arkansas Razorbacks coach Bobby Petrino was involved in a motorcycle accident that left him with several broken ribs, a cracked vertebra and a cumbersome neck brace. On Thursday, the incident got more complicated than the matter of not wearing a helmet: Police reports said that Petrino was carrying a passenger, 25-year old University of Arkansas employee Jessica Dorrell, on the motorcycle. Before those reports surfaced, Petrino had told the media that he was alone.

Associated Press

Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino speaks during a news conference in Fayetteville, Ark., on Tuesday after being released from a hospital after he was injured in a motorcycle accident.

The complicating factors don’t end there. Petrino had hired Dorrell just last week as a student-athlete development coordinator, and Petrino’s boss told reporters the coach had failed to indicate to him about Dorrell’s presence on the ride until Thursday, when the police reports were about to be released. In response, athletic director Jeff Long said he placed Petrino on paid leave. (Arkansas did not respond to a request for comment by the Journal. We couldn’t reach Petrino or Dorrell, though a spokesman for the coach declined comment to the Associated Press on Thursday.)

“Lying or misleading the media is one thing. The same goes for the public,” writes ESPN’s Chris Low. “But when you’re not forthcoming with your bosses, that’s one of those things that tends to resonate.” NBC Sports’s Ben Kercheval points out that Ohio State’s Jim Tressel and Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl, both deeply entrenched at their respective schools, were fired for not telling the truth. (Neither has denied those charges.) “There have been plenty of comments over the past day about what is ‘expected’ of Petrino. First of all, if you ‘expected’ anything from Petrino from an ethics standpoint to begin with, I’d check the magnets in your moral compass,” he writes. “But this isn’t about how Petrino acts in his private life, or whether he practices what he preaches. Rather, it’s about what is expected of him in a business environment.” Led by resurgent running back Knile Davis, the Razorbacks are supposed to be a decent bet to break out of the Southeastern Conference logjam and compete for a national title. Losing their highly talented coach would obviously cast some doubts on those hopes.

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For the most part, specific details of the New Orleans Saints’ bounty program have largely remained in the realm of speculation, with fans left to guess at what might’ve driven the NFL to dispense such severe punishments on the franchise. That changed on Thursday, when filmmaker Sean Pamphilon, who directed ESPN’s “Run Ricky Run” documentary, released an edited four-minute audio tape that he says features former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams instructing his defense on how to play before last season’s wild-card playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers. The tape is damning: Williams calls out specific 49ers players, such as Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter, and uses language like “kill the … head and the body will die.” (Requests for comments to the Saints and the St. Louis Rams, Williams’s current employer, were not returned. Neither Williams or anyone else has publicly disputed the recording’s authenticity.)

As expected, reactions were not kind toward a coach whom the NFL has already suspended indefinitely for encouraging cash payouts for injuring opponents. Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams, whose son Kyle Williams was one of the 49ers players targeted in the tape, made a very fatherly statement questioning the NFL’s culture. “Gregg Williams ought to be banned for life” and “Gregg Williams is done” were popular takes in columns, though others tried to put his actions in a greater context. “While his actions certainly were wrong, Williams is the product of a culture that prods players to reach levels of recklessness, ferocity and intensity that allow them to succeed in a violent sport,” writes Yahoo’s Michael Silver, “and I have a hard time holding him up as the anti-Christ in that context.” Adding to that sentiment, Don Banks called for the incident to be used as a teaching moment for future NFL players. “With this vivid example, using Williams’ own descriptive and sickening words, the league has instead been handed the ultimate gift to help enact the culture change it seeks,” he writes. “Going forward, after his year or more of penance is served, who better to represent the face of change, and to put a face to the issue of player safety than Williams himself?”

While Williams may yet become an enlightened guru of nonviolence if he’s ever reinstated by the league, the potential redemption of one man isn’t the main issue at hand. Pamphilon’s recording was taken just a few months ago, meaning that the NFL’s attitude toward aggression won’t simply change with a few strong platitudes about how everyone needs to be nicer to each other. “There’s a bigger story here: the laughable notion that anyone can change an ingrained culture of violence overnight,” Grantland’s Bill Simmons writes. “Any parent knows that kids never listen the first time — it takes four or five times, and usually a raised voice or a threat, before they heed your wishes. Players and coaches are wired the same way.” As Deadspin’s Barry Petchesky points out, the first thing Williams did in the emerging moments of the scandal was to apologize. In the tape, the first thing he tells his players: “We don’t … apologize for how we’re going to play.” (This link includes audio – be prepared for some salty language.)

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When a roomful of NBA reporters asked Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy to comment on a report alleging that team superstar Dwight Howard had requested his dismissal, they probably weren’t expecting such an honest answer. But in what could go down as a legendary moment of candor, Van Gundy confirmed that the rumors were true because he’d heard it from Magic upper management, and made a handful of flippant comments about his future in Orlando. The revelation would’ve been enough on its own, but what followed was one of the most awkward press conference moments of the year: Immediately after Van Gundy made his comments, Howard sauntered into the room and threw his arm around his coach as though nothing were wrong. After Van Gundy made a hasty exit, Howard’s mood quickly turned sour as the reporters asked him to confirm what they had just heard, even asking who the source was. Reached for comment, the Magic passed along statements that general manager Otis Smith made earlier to the press. “Stan is still our coach, Dwight is still a player and this is just another chapter that’s been going on since the beginning of the season,” Smith said. “Regardless of what has been asked, Stan is still the coach of this basketball team, so that’s where we are.”

Later in the evening, the Magic played the New York Knicks and lost badly, with Howard getting in early foul trouble and remaining largely ineffective. Maybe that’s a coincidence, even if a Knicks team missing two of its three best players shouldn’t have been able to make such easy work of a theoretical contender on its home court. But as has been the case for more than a year, the aptly named Dwight-mare doesn’t seem anywhere close to ending. “Howard has the clout, and that’s life in the NBA, where a franchise superstar is the most valuable commodity — even more valuable than a top-five coach,” writes Sports Illustrated’s Zach Lowe. “But this superstar is uncommitted beyond next season, and a franchise should be able to get a top-five coach and a top-five player to coexist peacefully. Lots of teams have done it before without losing one or the other.”

Comments (5 of 10)

The Petrino sons were raised to be arrogant - all because, I guess, their dad was the coach at NAIA little old Carroll College in Helena. They were never what you would call nice or humble or caring. I remember one incident when Paul Petrino was playing on the Capital High School basketball team in a divisional (or state, I don't recall) tournament game. The win depended upon 2 free throws, which Paul Petrino did not make. Consensus: sorry that Capital lost the game but if anyone had to miss the free throws, glad it was Paul Petrino.

9:16 pm April 7, 2012

Fan wrote:

Petrino should be fired for lying to his family, the football team and the university. Guess he had to put her on the university payroll to pay for her sevices to him. University donors and taxpayers should be livid. How can he ask the team to do the right thing when he can not.

9:42 am April 7, 2012

r.c. smith wrote:

Exhibited by Falcon's owner Arthur Blank upon hearing of Bobby Petrino's deepening situation and lack of candor ... a huge, sweat clearing swipe of the brow and a relieved "WHEW!" Imagine if he had stayed in Atlanta.

9:48 pm April 6, 2012

Deborah Alfano wrote:

Bob Petrino should be fired if nothing else it should be done to help salvage the reputation of Arkansas men and the accepted norm within the state.

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